San Diego  San Diego police homicide investigators said Thursday night the case of a missing 79-year-old Serra Mesa woman has been classified as a homicide, but did not say whether a body found the day before on the Barona Indian Reservation is Mehria Mansury’s.

The body was found Wednesday under a tree about 100 yards off Wildcat Canyon Road, in a remote area about four miles east of the Barona Casino & Resort.

Homicide Lt. Jorge Duran said the body could not be immediately identified, and that he could not say if it was a man or a woman. It apparently had been there for some time, he said.

A Barona security officer said the body was that of a woman, and that a sheriff’s search-and-rescue team had located it about 3:35 p.m.

Sheriff’s investigators, aware of the Mansury missing person case, notified San Diego homicide detectives, Duran said. The lieutenant said investigators had received a tip about the case, but he declined to elaborate.

Duran said Mansury was reported missing by family members from her house on Amulet Street on Sept. 25. He said Mansury had last been seen by family who stopped by the house about 5 p.m. Sept. 23.

Mansury lived at the house with her daughter, Ghazal Mansury, 42. On Thursday evening, KFMB/TV-Channel 8 showed Ghazal Mansury and a man they identified as her boyfriend being placed in handcuffs by San Diego police officers in City Heights earlier Thursday.

Police Lt. Kevin Mayer said Thursday night that he could not confirm whether either of them had been arrested. A media briefing on the case will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, he said.

Homicide officials will provide additional information about the investigation at that time, Duran said in a statement.

Several hours after the body was found Wednesday, police officers served a search warrant at the Amulet address. Neighbors said they were there through most of the night. Ghazal Mansury was taken to police headquarters for questioning, but was released, Duran said earlier. He said the boyfriend had previously been questioned in the case.

San Diego Superior Court records show that Ghazal Mansury was on probation for a criminal case stemming from several felony and misdemeanor offenses on May 26, 2010. She was charged with two counts of burglary, one involving a house and the other a Jack in the Box; one count of acquiring an access card; and three counts of petty theft for using an access card/account information. Court records show she pleaded guilty on Oct. 22, 2010, to the Jack in the Box burglary, specifically entering a commercial building “with intent to commit theft.” In light of the plea, other charges were dismissed.

She was placed on probation for three years and ordered to perform 30 hours of public service. She was also ordered to pay restitution of nearly $1,700 to two victims.

Mehria Mansury had a large extended family in the San Diego area. Relatives said her husband died about 10 years ago.

Residents along Amulet said a lot of different men came and went from the Mansury house. Denise Lattizzori, 79, who lives across the street, said she often overheard arguments between the mother and daughter.

Lattizzori said she last saw Mehria Mansury in front of her home a day or two before she disappeared.

“She was mad, walking by her flowers, and she said, ‘I am not going to pay for that,’ ” Lattizzori said. She said she didn’t know what her neighbor was referring to, but she appeared to be talking to someone who was not in view.

She said Mansury in the past had shared stories of her life in Afghanistan, before the Russian invasion in 1979. Mansury told the neighbor she and her husband had a large home with servants in the mountains and often traveled.

When she disappeared, police issued a missing persons report but said initially they did not think foul play was involved.

Family members, police and a sheriff’s search-and-rescue team launched extensive searches near her home and in the riverbeds near Qualcomm Stadium outside Serra Mesa. A $6,000 reward was offered for information, most of the money raised by family members and friends.

Mansury’s niece, Setara Moosa, said that the boyfriend stayed at the Amulet house. Other family said he had his own residence in another area of San Diego.

Duran said a female visitor at the Mansury home was arrested Thursday on an unrelated warrant.

Moosa said police informed the family Wednesday after a body was found, not wanting them to hear it on the news.

“I think her family has been so brave,” Lattizzori said. “It’s just so sad.”